Matchmakers Box Set: Matchmakers, Encore, Finding Hope (25 page)

“I didn’t sleep too well,” he said, and that wasn’t a lie. Any sleep he had had been filled with dreams of Carissa.

“Me either.” She reached for her sweatshirt that lay on the chair next to her. She tied it around her waist and looked into his eyes. “I kept thinking I should have kissed you when I ran into you the other night. It’s sure made it hard to sleep lately.” She winked and started down the steps.

Thomas’s feet didn’t move. Was she kidding? His heart was racing now, and he hadn’t run a step. He wiped at the sweat that formed on his brow.

“Are you coming?” she called back to him from the street corner.

God, was she clueless as to what she’d just done? He took his first step and then another. Dear Lord, he was in trouble.

He never did run with her. It was much more like him following her. When she stopped in front of a diner, he was grateful. They hadn’t run far, but he was certainly not in as good a shape as the woman he’d been chasing all the way from the house.

She stood with her arms over her head, stretching from side to side. Then she untied the sweatshirt from her hips and slid it over her arms.

Thomas finally caught up to her and immediately bent over with his hands on his knees. Carissa laughed. “I thought you could run.”

“So did I. Sophia never ran that fast.”

“Then she was taking it easy on you.” She tightened the tail of hair at the back of her head. “Stand up.”

“I can’t.” He panted as his vision went blurry, and all he could hear was the blood rushing in his ears.

She walked to him and pulled on his arms until she had them cuffed at the wrists and lifted over his head. “There. It lets in more air. You’re just cutting off your oxygen by bending over.”

He couldn’t say anything. He just stood there staring at her glistening face and trying his damndest to suck in oxygen.

She was watching him carefully, and when his breathing began to settle, she smiled at him. “Feel better?” When he nodded, she tugged open the door of the diner. “Good, I’m hungry.”

Thomas took in the atmosphere of the small diner. No one there seemed out of place. Some people were in suits. Some were in relaxed casual Saturday wear. A few looked like they hadn’t seen a pillow yet. Others waved to the staff and other patrons as they headed out to a long, hard day of manual labor. The air filled with their voices and the smells of bacon and coffee. He’d missed such a place.

Carissa waved to the woman behind the counter and found a booth for them to sit in.

He followed, sitting across from her. “This place is great.”

“This was always one of my favorite places to come to with my dad when I was growing up.” She tossed her head from side to side, and he watched as she worked the tension from her neck.

“A hangout, huh?”

“It was one of his favorite places because he always came here with Sophia. He didn’t tell me that until after I fell in love with her myself, or I would have protested and never have wanted to come here again.”

She threw a menu his way and he opened it, glancing at the options.

“Didn’t you always love Sophia? How could you not? She’s amazing.”

“Because when you’re little and someone feeds you lines of BS about why your dad left, you tend to hate the person he’s living with.” She said it so matter-of-factly that he only nodded in agreement.

The waitress arrived at the table, and Carissa looked up at her with a smile. “Good morning, Betsy.”

“Good mornin’, honey. Got a new beau?” Thomas wiggled in his seat as she scanned her eyes over him. “Kinda skinny.”

“You can fix that, right?”

Thomas grinned as he watched the two women banter.

“That would be my job.” She winked.

They ordered, and Thomas tucked his menu back behind the napkin dispenser as Betsy walked away.

“What time is your first student?”

“Not until ten.”

“But you dragged my butt out of the house at seven?”

“You run to breakfast.  You take a nice stroll back.” Yes, that did make sense. “Then home for a shower and off to work.”

Suddenly his head filled with images of her in the shower. When he got home, his would have to be a cold one.

“I was giving some thought to the design of the school last night.”

“You were?” Her brows knit, and he worried she wasn’t open to criticism. But it would be better to add his opinion before all the interior walls were complete.

“I was thinking that back room is going to be awfully big. Don’t you think you could put some tables in and room to do book work?”

“Book work?”

“Theory.”

Carissa’s beautiful, pouty lips thinned, and she shifted her glance out the window and then back toward him. “Theory goes home in a book and comes back for me to look over and put a sticker on. It’s part of every lesson, but not meant for a class of its own. We want the kids to enjoy their classes, not dread them.”

“I don’t see why you don’t—” Betsy interrupted with a plate of food, and the conversation on theory came to a halt. He watched as she doctored her breakfast with condiments, keeping her thoughts to herself.

Perhaps the discussion over theory would be best for another time. But time would soon be running out. He had opinions, and he damn well thought she should listen.

They ate their breakfast and managed to fill an hour with small talk, which did not include the curriculum of the school.

Thomas found Carissa intoxicating, once she’d stopped snarling at him. She was witty, funny, smart, and a little mouthy. What amazed him was how much she was like Sophia, though they’d never spent her childhood together for her to have adopted those traits and qualities.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in.” A hand fell onto his shoulder, and he froze at the sound of David’s voice.

“Daddy.” Carissa jumped up to kiss her father on the cheek. “Where’s Mom?”

“She headed over to Katie’s to pick her up for her hair appointment. You know Katie. She won’t miss it.”

Hope sat next to Thomas, bouncing on the cushion of the booth. David gave her a look of warning, and she settled in even closer to Thomas.

David draped his arm over Carissa’s shoulders. “So what are you two up to?”

Thomas felt the need to speak up. He’d done nothing but sit and have a meal with Carissa, but suddenly he felt as though he’d been caught doing something illicit.

Carissa spoke before he could begin to babble. “I made him go for a run before my first student.”

“Yep, she’s just like her mother,” David confirmed.

“Not quite.” Thomas shook his head as he looked at Carissa. “She runs faster.”

Carissa threw her napkin at him. “We have to go. Want the booth?”

“Sure.” David moved into the spot Carissa vacated. “It was nice to see you again, Thomas.” He held his hand out as Thomas stood.

Thomas shook his hand. “Likewise. Goodbye, Hope. Enjoy your Saturday.”

Carissa zipped up her sweatshirt as they walked away from the diner. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I feel like I just got caught.”

“Caught doing what?”

“I don’t know. You run into someone’s dad after you’ve just crawled out of bed with his daughter…” His eyes flew open, and he looked at her. “Wait, that’s not what I meant. I meant separately. I mean…”

“Stop.” She was laughing at him. Tears were forming in her eyes. “I got it.” She laid her hand on his chest as she laughed. “Oh, Thomas, even if we’d crawled out of the same bed, he wouldn’t have treated you any differently.”

He wasn’t too sure of that.

Carissa stepped closer to him until he could feel her body almost pressed to his. “You are too cute when you get flustered.”

He reached for her hands before she could back away. “You’re a forward one, aren’t you?”

“Does it bother you?”

“No, I’m just not used to it. I’m a classical musician. I don’t attract women’s attention too often.”

“I’m a classical musician, and I’m a woman. And when I see something I like, I go after it.” She seductively bit her lip. “And I like you.”

She moved up closer to him, and his entire body stiffened, as if to put up the wall he so desperately needed between them. “What is it you want, Carissa Kendal?”

“I don’t know yet. Does that scare you?”

“Scares the hell out of me.”

Her smile widened. “Well, by the pace of your heart…” She looked down at her hands that rested on his chest. “I’d say there’s a mutual attraction.”

“I’ll go with that.”

“And as I’m very selective with whom I share myself, don’t think I’ll be racing into your bed.”

“Carissa, I didn’t mean to assume that…”

She raised her finger to his lips. “But I’m certainly not one to take too much time either. You forget, I watched a man wait ten years for the woman he loves. One thing I’m not is patient.” Her lashes fluttered, and his heart skipped another beat.

Thank God, he thought.

She stepped back and winked. “Well, we’ve come a long way in a few days. I guess, above all, we need to realize we still have to work with each other.”

“True.” Though he wondered how well it could go when she wouldn’t even listen to his ideas.

“My business is too important to me to have something like a relationship with a coworker ruin it. My life is here in Kansas City, and my family, and now my business. I may not like to wait for things I want, but I don’t like change much either.”

Thomas swallowed the lump of fear that lodged in his throat from her words. No matter what happened between them, there would be change.

“Let’s start by walking.” She grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingers. “And talking.”

“Talking?”

“Tell me who you are, Thomas Samuel.” She turned her head toward him and narrowed her eyes. “And don’t leave anything out.”

If her forwardness hadn’t ramped up his heart rate, her words would have. Where did he start? Did he start by telling her he was knocked around by his father until he was sixteen? That his father was an abusive, drunk bastard that finally killed one of his children in the fury of anger? Or did she want to hear how, after Pablo came out of the closet and he didn’t have a job, he’d become an alcoholic like his father. That he’d almost killed himself and Pablo’s lover, Pierre, one night in Paris? Is that what she wanted to know?

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s pretty simple, isn’t it?”

He wished it were. “Do you want the basics like my birthday is January fourth? I’m thirty-three years old. You already know I’ve played the piano since I was three. Before moving here, which you also know I did only Thursday,” he joked, trying to keep the conversation as light as possible, “I resided in a dinky apartment just outside of Rome.” He took his free hand and ran it through his hair. He really needed a haircut. “I didn’t stick around to graduate high school. Not traditionally, at least. But Pablo made sure I had a high school diploma.”

“You graduated high school in Italy?” He nodded. “Pretty cool.”

He snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Where were you born?”

“Maryland.”

“First teacher’s name?”

“Mrs. Norton.”

“Color of your first bike?”

“Fire engine red.”

“Name of your first pet?”

“Didn’t have one.”

She stopped and faced him. “Neither did I.”

It was as if that was their connection. He squeezed his eyes shut. It was going to get too complicated too quickly, he could tell. Perhaps he should talk to Sophia about everything. He needed to make some decisions on how he wanted to handle Carissa Kendal. No matter what Carissa expected of him, he wasn’t the marrying type, or a family man. He couldn’t risk her losing her heart over him.

As they neared the house, he looked over at her. What if he lost his heart to her?

“I had a wonderful time.” Carissa swung their hands between them as they walked up the front steps.

“So did I. I could get used to that every Saturday morning.”

“Well, at least you’re thinking about staying then.”

His jaw dropped when she said that. For not wanting to make commitments, he sure was doing it.

Carissa unlocked the front door and walked inside the house. She kicked off her shoes, unzipped her sweatshirt, and shrugged out of it. With two fingers, she picked up her shoes and laid her sweatshirt over her arm. He noticed her routine. This was what she did every week, and now it included him.

“Time to get ready for work.” She stepped closer to him. “How do we end our date?”

Sweat trickled down the back of his neck. He took a step closer to her and touched her cheek. He drew her toward him and gently laid a kiss on those full lips he’d been aching to caress with his own.

As he pulled back, her eyes remained closed. When she opened them, he was looking right into them.

“That was nice,” she said on a sigh. “I’m guessing you’re a great kisser.”

“Maybe tonight we’ll go on another date, and you can find out.” He slid his hand from her cheek down her throat and lingered it there.

She raised her hand to his face, and it caught on his stubble. It was then he realized he needed to buy a razor.

As she pulled her hand away, it caught his attention. Quickly he grabbed her arm and turned it over, her inner wrist up.

“Holy cow.” She pulled her arm away from him. “That had to hurt like hell.”

Carissa’s eyes flew open, and he knew defensiveness when he saw it. “Yeah, it did.”

“What did you get it caught in?”

Her head tilted, and her expression softened. “What?”

“I said what did you get your arm caught in?” He reached for it and ran his fingers over her scar.

“I, um, I fell off my bike going down a hill.”

“Got your arm stuck in the spokes?”

She nodded.

“Damn.” He raised her wrist to his lips and kissed the scar.

“I have to get ready. I’ll find you when I’m done, and we can make plans for tonight.” She broke free from him and ran up the stairs to her room.

As soon as the door shut, Carissa paced the room and let the tears that had filled her eyes fall. Every emotion that could possibly be felt surged through her body. She was happy, sad, angry—and smitten to tie it all together. She sat down on the bed and rested her head in her hands.